Israel Matzav

'Real' anti-Semitism

British moonbat Jenny Tonge has called on Israel to set up an inquiry to disprove allegations that IDF medical personnel harvested organs in Haiti. Uri Dromi rips Tonge in a comment at the Guardian's Comment is Free section.

Attacking Israel's policies is one thing; insinuating that the army of the Jewish state is stealing organs or – as the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet published last year, that the IDF was killing Arabs for their organs – is to repeat what antisemites were saying about the Jews in the darkest periods of history. A blood libel, in short.

Andrew Sullivan refers to this blood libel as 'real' anti-Semitism. It's not clear where Sullivan would come out on the Aftonbladet accusations, but clearly (from other things he has written) he would not regard claims that Israel targeted civilians in Operation Cast Lead last year as a blood libel.

The problem is that it is a short step from one allegation to the other, and in fact, the same people making the Haiti allegations rallied to support the Aftonbladet allegations and were in the forefront of those making the allegations about Israel targeting 'Palestinians' in Operation Cast Lead. It's almost a pity that this time the Guardian seems to have cleaned up the spills in the comment section, because many comments have been deleted that probably would prove my point. But here are some of the comments that the Guardian let stand:

ellis

12 Feb 2010, 4:16PM

the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet published last year, that the IDF was killing Arabs for their organs

The problem was that, despite the routine outbursts (see article above) to the effect that the story was a libelous fabrication, it appeared to have a considerable amount of truth in it.

The fact that this refutation, of the charges concerning Haiti, begins by denying the Aftonbladet story gives Lady Tong's (kudos for those amazingly funny jokes about her name, by the way) an ominous validity.

jamescisv

12 Feb 2010, 4:28PM

Just when we thought we heard everything, there comes Lady Tonge, the Liberal Democrat peer, calling for Israel to set up an inquiry to disprove allegations that its medical teams in Haiti "harvested" organs of earthquake victims for use in transplants.

I'm not saying they are doing it, and I don't know how credible the accusations are, but isn't that precisely the point of setting up an inquiry?

You know, to find stuff out!?

Indeed, in the JC link at the beginning of your article, she said:

''the Israel Defence Forces were to be commended for their fantastic response to the Haitian earthquake?.

but then said:

?To prevent allegations such as these ? which have already been posted on YouTube ? going any further, the IDF and the Israeli Medical Association should establish an independent inquiry immediately to clear the names of the team in Haiti.?

Seems pretty fair to me!

Unlike, say, immediately calling this anti-Israel abuse, or antisemitism, for example!

Aliboy

12 Feb 2010, 4:35PM

So Tonge never said herself that this had happened. So she's anti-semitic when she didn't say it, is that it?

Anti-semitism is very complicated, isn't it? Nothing you can say is not anti-semitic.

Actually, all this article is is another opportunity for Dromi to pull out his accusations of anti-semitism again.

NapoleonKaramazov

12 Feb 2010, 4:38PM

The Israel organs scandal seems to be true, but apparently they also harvested from dead Israeli soldiers and civilians, and foreign workers in addition to Palestinians.

So, really it is an internal issue. Like we had with the Alder Hey organs scandal.
It happened at least 10 years ago as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sWA2BxFzhQ&feature=related

BeautifulBurnout

12 Feb 2010, 4:39PM

Hang on. What evidence do we have, other than what the JC says, that Jenny Tonge said any such thing, or the context in which it was said?

I know she can be a bit extreme in her comments at times, but I can't imagine her offering up this kind of comment without it being prompted.

This is too bizarre. She is an intelligent woman.

(Still, Uri. People say the strangest things sometimes, I'll grant you that, so you might well be right. A year ago you were denying that the IDF were using white phosophorous as a weapon during Operation Cast Lead.)

But if Jenny Tonge really believes that this is something that "needs investigating" then she is off her rocker, frankly. Not to mention being extraordinarily offensive to Jews everywhere.

PhilipD

12 Feb 2010, 4:45PM

I'd rather see what she said directly before accusing her of anti-semitism. From the linked article she seems to have directly rejected the allegations and her call for an investigation was in the spirit of saying that the allegations needed to be directly addressed rather than ignored. In the context, this may have been foolish, but its easy to see how a casual answer to a direct question could have been misintepreted that way.

Mind you, I've never heard of the woman before, and a casual google does indicate that she's a bit of a wild card, to put it mildly. But accusing someone of the very serious charge anti-semitism without directly stating what they said, and in what context they said it, smacks a bit of opportunism, especially as she has a history of campaigning for Palestinians.

BeautifulBurnout

12 Feb 2010, 4:49PM

Erm... the more I look into this, the weirder it appears to be. Google "jenny tonge haiti IDF" and the only results are the JC, ynet and a variety of blogs (any links to the Torygraph are individual bloggers, not Torygraph staff) with a vested interest, shall we say. Nothing reported in anything mainstream.

Is Baroness Tonge being smeared here?

Not happy about the authenticity of this, frankly.

Blood libel is a really vile thing to do. It is up there with holocaust denial in my book. Falsely accusing someone of a blood libel on the flimsiest of evidence is inexcusable.

exiledlondoner

12 Feb 2010, 4:50PM

Yes, Jenny Tonge's brain has clearly departed this world, and moved.. well actually, I have no idea where er brain's gone....

But why oh why get Uri Dromi to write the article? As little more than a professional apologist for the Israeli Military and propagandist for Israel, he will inevitably be the main sunject of the debate - this is a man who campaigns against the investigation of things that really need investigating.

Any number of Israeli writers could have written this article - writers whose attachment to the truth was less questionable. What Jenny Tonge has said is plain wrong. You don't need someone of Mr Dromi's particular talents to write about it - his skills lie elsewhere.

I sometimes wonder whether CIF is trying to start a shouting match for more hits?

BeautifulBurnout

12 Feb 2010, 4:52PM

north

I reiterate - blood libel is vile and disgusting.

However, I am a tad concerned at the authenticity of this, or whether she was quoted out of context, because although she is a mouth-frother when it comes to I/P she is not daft enough to become imbroiled in something as stupid as this, imo. Just my two penn'orth though - I may well be wrong and will apologise if I am.

JackofDiamonds

12 Feb 2010, 4:52PM

I heard that the British army was using the bodies of dead Argentinians left over from the Falklands war to host their efforts at keeping Hitler's brain alive in a secret MI6 facility.

Now set up an impartial investigation to prove this wrong.

But you're talking about the British not the Israelis. The Israelis are capable of anything and everything wicked - that is a given. Going to Haiti was - of course, of course - merely a pretext to steal organs - the evidence is there for all to see. Now let the Israelis get out of that. And let us not forget, that if the Israelis investigate this allegation, the investigation is suspect from the start because the Israelis cannot be trusted, they are bound to cover up their heinous crimes.

No this thing must go to the UN. A commission must be appointed to investigate these crimes. Jenny Tonge would be an ideal candidate for this commission. If the Israelis object to her taking part - it just goes to show they have something to hide. Tonge is a patron of the online newspaper that has bravely published the facts of this case - intrepid, honest, courageous Jenny - thank god for her and her newspaper.

By the way, BeautifulBurnout is marked as a 'contributor,' which I believe means that s/he writes pieces for CiF.

Those comments are all from the first page (50 comments) and there were an additional 20 or so that were deleted. We can only imagine....

By the way, Pamela Geller points out that the person who started the Haiti blood libel is a regular poster on Huffington Post. It figures.

While blood libels like stealing organs are among the most extreme, they are not far removed from claiming that Israel targeted civilians in Operation Cast Lead. Indeed, the same people are behind both allegations. Like many leftists, Andrew Sullivan can't understand that.

UPDATE 6:19 PM

Tonge has been fired as her party's spokesperson on health matters in the House of Lords, but she remains an MP.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:10 AM